Friday, 13 January 2017

Book Review: Hexed by Kevin Hearne (Iron Druid #2)

Atticus O’Sullivan, last
of the Druids, doesn’t care much for witches. Still, he’s about to make
nice with the local coven by signing a mutually beneficial nonaggression
treaty—when suddenly the witch population in modern-day Tempe, Arizona,
quadruples overnight. And the new girls are not just bad, they’re
badasses with a dark history on the German side of World War II.

With
a fallen angel feasting on local high school students, a horde of
Bacchants blowing in from Vegas with their special brand of deadly
decadence, and a dangerously sexy Celtic goddess of fire vying for his
attention, Atticus is having trouble scheduling the witch hunt. But
aided by his magical sword, his neighbor’s rocket-propelled grenade
launcher, and his vampire attorney, Atticus is ready to sweep the town
and show the witchy women they picked the wrong Druid to hex.

My Review: "Demons smell like ass-nasty ass that slithers down your throat, finds your gag reflex and sits on it with authority."

Atticus
has upset his vampire lawyer Leif by refusing to kill Thor for him and
Leif is sulking and refusing to talk to him. With a non aggression pact
with Malina's Coven close to being signed, Atticus and the Coven are
both attacked by powerful foreign witches, and of course there are the
demons causing havoc in town and threatening his friends, along with his
nosey neighbour ready to call the police on him at any moment.
Discovering that party demons loyal to another God are also coming to
town and are immune to Druid skills is just the news that Atticus didn't
need. What does he have to do to have a quiet life?

"Tell her I'm a Peace Dawg but I think her cats are closely allied with The Man. I'm going to stick it to them."-Oberon

I
liked that Atticus and the Coven decide that as well as signing a
treaty as allies, they must work together to destroy the witches trying
to take over the territory. Malina's Coven have been hexed which leaves
them trapped inside their building and unable to help hunt the enemy
down. I liked finding out more about some of the witches and having them
on the same side for once, after battling each other in the first book.
The party demons also require Atticus attention and Laksha offers to
kill them if he does a favour for her, something he does not greatly
relish, but has little option but to agree to it. There are also the
religious fanatics with beards who have a mind of their own...a bit like
Wild Mike from Barnyard!

The action in this book is pretty much
non stop with various demon attacks, the German witches, the bearded
fanatics, and I loved it. I enjoy fast paced action urban fantasy and
this book delivers that in spades. What is really great is that the
action and humour of this series never detracts from the development of
the characters. Atticus himself is more like a college student than an
ancient Druid so his humour can be immature and amusing. Leif is the
stuffy ancient vampire who has outbursts of inappropriate modern slang
which he has not yet perfected. Hal is the long suffering werewolf
lawyer who is frequently called upon to clean up each mess that Atticus
lands himself in. Mrs MacDonagh and her cats add some slapstick, as does
the other neighbour whose secret we finally discover! So many great
characters.

There is so much humour in this book. Oberon enjoys a
bathtime story so much that he decides on becoming a Peace Dawg, which
is very funny. Leif decides it is time to finally learn some modern
slang but of course he messes it up nicely, which I loved! Atticus has
the awkward crush on his new assistant Granuaile which amuses Oberon,
Mrs MacDonagh is happy to let Oberon terrify her cats to give them some
exercise and the nosey neighbour offers Atticus use of his rocket
launcher to take down dome giant demon bugs. I think this humour and the
action that goes on throughout the book make this one my favourite in
the series.

There are some exciting releases coming in the Iron
Druid World in 2017 so now is a great time to catch up and join in the
adventures! Read November 2016.

8 comments:

"Peace Dawg" - I love it. You are really making great strides in getting me to throw the TBR aside and start these...."Must wait til March, must wait til March." Man, Booker T and Cassius really need a pal to hang around with like Oberon.

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